TAPPS Head Edd Burleson's Take on Non-Christian Schools: A Texas Shanda for the Goyim

Edd Burleson is the head of the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, and when it comes to discussing recent controversies between TAPPS and non-Christian schools, he brings the crazy like he brings the "d"s to his first name.

The Dallas Morning News published an interview with Burleson Sunday, and the 77-year-old didn't mince words when it came to the flap over Houston's Orthodox Jewish Beren Academy and TAPPS' initial refusal to reschedule playoff games that conflicted with the Sabbath.

"We shouldn't have accepted them in the first place," he told the paper. He then said if TAPPS had fought the rescheduling issue further, they would have won.

He summed up his analysis elegantly and concisely:

What else would you want me to say? Want me to come up with some politically correct gobbledygook? I can't. I'm telling you that's how I feel.

As it did last month, the education department of the Texas Catholic Conference, which represents the state's 43 Catholic schools, criticized TAPPS.

The comments attributed to Mr. Burleson in the media (Sunday) come as a surprise,. At a meeting with representatives of member schools last week in Belton, Mr. Burleson reportedly conveyed his intention to listen to the concerns of member schools and resolve these issues -- he even scheduled a second meeting in two weeks to discuss it further. If today's comments are accurate, they are dramatically different from the impressions he gave a week ago.

The Texas Catholic superintendents' position remains the same. If the concerns are not satisfactorily resolved, Catholic schools will reconsider their future affiliation with TAPPS.